KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

tibawo

phew... over twisted dryer timer today and then was not working at all. can't really afford a new one and with spring on the way? was thinking if worth replacing. I tend to only use in winter and emergencies. anyway just got back from work, had a twiddle with it with tools and is working again.


Lesson cancelled so going up to complete dd room soon. TBH it is a clutter removal rather than KD and i do have permission. I will put the clothes on my bed that i feel are past it/too small and let her have ultimate say. Bear in mind she has currently 15 pairs of knickers and twelve t-shirts and that is without putting any drying away yet!!

cbsexec

I am slowly kondoing and donating to the local charity shops. I used them a lot when I had no money and small children and their prices were very reasonable and like to pay something back. Unfortunately I see the same trend here as my local ones now charge ridiculous amounts. Today I saw a coat for £150!!! It may be tweed but someone has donated it and surely most people who would shop in the charity shop couldnt afford £150.

GreyQueen

I've seen chazzers (trying) to sell secondhand sofas for £300.

And I mean mass-market furniture, nothing especially expensive when it was new. When used prices for chainstore furniture are about the same (or even dearer) than chainstore furniture is new at on-sale prices, something has gone badly amiss. And the new stores will have credit options, lots of people can't just drop their hands on three one-ers.

One of the things I do as part of my job is to book to have unwanted furniture/ appliances taken away from people's homes. We always try to encourage residents to think about charitable donation unless the items are beyond all hope. Oftentimes they've tried and been knocked back by the chazzers.

Sometimes the chazzers have no choice in that the relevent safety label is missing, or isn't on every piece of a three-piece suite. But sometimes, there is a minor defect to a couch, or whatever, and the charity won't take it, presumably because they can't ask a lot for it.

I can get where they're coming from, space in storerooms and shops in finite, furniture is difficult to transport etc, but it is causing a lot of usable stuff to be junked. I do my level best to stop this happening by pointing the public at freecycle etc.

When my own (third-hand) previous sofa was very worn and getting uncomfortable, I freecycled it and even described as well-worn, I had people biting my hands off. It's replacement was from another chazzer and we carried it through the streets to the flat.

I also tried to give a very good double mattress to Hoxfam, which is about a quarter mile from here.

The manager told me they could only take it if I could bring it to them. I explained it was a very heavy double box-spring, spotlessly clean, but that I only had a bicycle and couldn't get it to them. No flexibility there, I could bring it to the stock door of the shop and that was the only option.

I freecycled that, too, and had people clamouring to take it off my hands.

Igamogam

Lady_Bee wrote: »

Also, I have a dilemma about which charity to donate to.

All of mine goes to Oxf*m but that is because I liked the shop manager and her assistant and I go along with the charity's aims overall. The volunteers are also good. Their M&S voucher scheme I find useful and my nect*r card is linked so I get points on anything that sells............also its the most convenient CS on my high street to off load from the car and they sell fairtrade chocolate and have a fab second hand book section and nothing seems overpriced..........any of the above would be a reason to choose;)

In fact I only donate to 2 charities - this one in kind, and an animal charity. This way I feel I can say 'no' to others and truthfully say that I have chosen the charities I donate to, and yours isn't one of them...hard nosed? Uncharitable? I feel very strongly a line has to be drawn.

dragonette

I do hate how much re-usable or things with potential for 'upcycing' get dumped. Its not actually that bad around me, not all of Glasgow has ever lost the grinding poverty that keeps thrift the automatic choice. I try to reuse things and feel bad when buying new. Although thinking about it, I have 6 pieces of new(ha!) furniture in my flat and 11 pieces passed on to me or from charity shops (well, 9 plus 2 nesting tables). I can't imagine redecorating and changing all the colours leading to getting rid of things and buying new - my aunt does this and must have gone through so many sofas! Surely at most you could change a throw to the new colour?

Actually I must confess to buying 5m of upholstery fabric (on sale), to re-cover my cat tree. It is huge and midnight blue with a couple of bits needing some TLC. I love that I have enough space to even consider doing this.

The nearest charity shop to me benefits from my kondoing, as have friends who are setting up home for the first time. With the ME and limited choice, thats really my only sustainable option.
Most of our charity shops in the city centre are reasonably-priced though I'm sure there will be some ridiculous prices. An ex of mine has has a CS sofa for the last 5+ year that cost us £100 which seems fairly ok to me

After my latest health scare, the flat looked like a bombsite :eek: It has been relatively easy to clear up and that is def thanks to kondo! As it feels a little like the woo isn't flowing atm, I'm going to get rid of one thing a day this month to see if that helps.

GreyQueen

My ex-CS sofa (a leather DFS one) cost £110 in mint condition. I regard that as very acceptable as it was 10% of new price for a very similar model. I intend to keep it for over a decade, have had it a few years already come May.

Righty, off to read some of me books. Carry on kondo-ing, everybody.

mavvymoo

Morning all
This is a strange one as I logged on this morning and you are talking sofas :rotfl:I have 2 nice second hand ones I paid £160 last year but with my hip playing up they are a bit too soft for me now :(So I thought I would have a look at new ones :eek: I cant believe the price of them now for a good make you are looking £5k +

I would never ever pay that sort of money for sofas so I am going to look at buying new harder foam inners for them.If I cant find a decent 2nd hand one somewhere.

Also beds I have been having a look at new beds and the one I liked was £8119 :eek: in a superking size. So again I am sticking with what I have got and just NOT buying it

I know there must be cheaper ones out there but that just put me off even looking anymore.

How can anyone spend that much on a bed ! Did your bed cost that sort of money ? and they are now saying you should change your bed every 8 years so that bed I saw would cost you almost £100 a month to sleep on :eek:

How long have you lot had your bed ? mine is about 12 years old now and is still ok.

Anyway back to painting here plodding on and quite enjoying it As I am just taking my time and not living in a mess while doing it It makes so much difference


Mav x

DawnW

mavvymoo wrote: »

Also beds I have been having a look at new beds and the one I liked was £8119 :eek: in a superking size. So again I am sticking with what I have got and just NOT buying it

I know there must be cheaper ones out there but that just put me off even looking anymore.

How can anyone spend that much on a bed ! Did your bed cost that sort of money ? and they are now saying you should change your bed every 8 years so that bed I saw would cost you almost £100 a month to sleep on :eek:

How long have you lot had your bed ? mine is about 12 years old now and is still ok.

We bought a king size metal bedstead with a separately chosen mattress, new in a sale about 5 years ago. The cost in total was just over £700. We may buy a new mattress at some point (although ours is fine at the moment), but given how many antique metal and wooden bedsteads are about, I think the idea that it will suddenly disintegrate at 8 years old is probably nonsense dreamt up by marketers, don't you?

greenbee

Mav - your local independent dept. store has sofas in the sale at the moment and they're a LOT less than that! As are the beds. Where on earth were you looking?!

PollyWollyDoodle

Who came up with the 'you should change your bed every ten years' thing? Was it by any chance bed manufacturers? I'm very cynical - of course, if your mattress is sagging and you're rolling into the middle then it's time for change, but I'm firmly of the belief that if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

My bed is 9 years old and apart from being shredded by the cat, it's absolutely fine and one of my favourite places to be. :-)

Can't remember what I paid, it wasn't the cheapest as I specifically looked for one where you didn't have to turn the mattress - it's too hard for me. But I'm pretty sure it was under £300. If you've ever dismantled a divan bed, you'd wonder why they cost so much. Softwood and stapled fabric are the main constituents.